Chewelah voters annex into rural library district

Chewelah, Wash., voters have agreed to annex their city library into the Stevens County Rural Library District.

Voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the proposition with an 86 percent majority.

The city of Chewelah had eliminated funding for its library, according to the library district website. The annexation means Chewelah property owners will pay the library district tax of 39 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, about $39 per year on a $100,000 property. In exchange, they will have access to all branches of the rural district system.

About half of registered Chewelah voters voted in the special election.

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The name Cohn has been associated with the furniture business for more than 130 years. The extensive Russian Jewish clan, along with several other families, arrived in Oregon in the 1870s after a long trek by wagon and on foot from North Dakota. The Spokane store was founded by Harry, Hyman and Joseph Cohn in 1895.